Happily Ever After
by fairy's tale
Summary: The main character always gets their happy ending, but what about everyone else? We don't all get to live happily ever after, so what happens to everyone when the story ends? A collection of fairy tales I've retold from the point of view of background characters. Don't read if you want a happy ending, there will be none.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one, Cinderella

A ball was to be held in the royal palace, and every maiden of the kingdom was invited. The servant girl thought that perhaps, just maybe, she would be able to go too, along with the two beautiful daughters of the family. The prince was looking for a wife, if she could manage to catch his eye… the girl dared not dream any further, after all, something so wonderful could never happen to her.

The girl's name was not Cinderella. Jackie was pretty-ish and fairly hard working, what she did not have was a fairy godmother.

When the girl finally plucked up the courage to ask the master of the house if she would be able to go to the ball with them, he had laughed. She had an old dress of her mother's, and she won't cause them any trouble, she said. The master was kind in explaining that, though the invitation had said every maiden of the kingdom, it was only meant for the daughters of high standing families. "I'm sorry Jackie," he had said, "you're a perfectly sweet girl, but it simply wouldn't be proper." She was ashamed that she had ever thought it possible.

On the night of the ball, when Jackie had finished all her chores and was left standing in her room with nothing to do but go to bed. She took out her mother's dress and put it on, but she did not have a mirror to see how she looked. She lifted the skirt twirled, admiring the way it flared out, it was the most beautiful thing she had ever worn, but it would have looked plain next to the extravagant ball gowns the ladies wore that night. She did not imagine that she was dancing with the prince. Jackie carefully folded the dress away and went to bed. She did not cry into her pillow.

The next morning, Jackie was surprised to find the royal messenger upon answering the door. He asked her to bring the ladies of the house for some important business. Of course, he had meant the young mistresses, not her, the servant girl. She led him to the sitting room and hurried to gather the family.

The messenger presented them with, of all things, a glass slipper and announced that the maiden who fit the shoe was to become the prince's bride. Jackie, who was standing by thought that it was a completely ridiculous way of finding the run-away maiden. After all, there must be more than one girl that the shoe would fit, couldn't they have made a portrait, or gather all the young women who fit the prince's description then have him identify the one? The messenger left after finding that neither of the ladies had correctly sized feet.

Later, Jackie heard that the prince had married a lowly servant girl whom he had fallen in love with at the ball. She thought it must have been a strange rumor, It could have never happened, for a girl like her to have even gone to the ball, and to be beautiful enough for the prince to fall in love with. Jackie looked down at her hands, rough and calloused from work, it was most definitely impossible.

*author's note*

I will be writing more of these, if you have a fairy tale that you would like me to write about, please mention it in a comment, it would be really helpful. Please also review if you enjoyed seeing me take your favorite stories and replacing the happily ever after with a reminder that everyone's life sucks. Have a nice day.


	2. Chapter 2 the Tortoise and the Hare

Chapter 2, the Tortoise and the Hare

Once upon a time, there was a tortoise who beat a hare in a race. The tortoise was able to do it because of his unwavering determination in the face of a daunting opponent, so it was told to generations of young tortoises to come.

Tommy the tortoise had a dream, he dreamt that one day, he would be able to win a race just like his legendary ancestor. Tommy worked towards his goal by training day after day, he broke record after record in tortoise sports, he got so good that there was no tortoise in the forest who could compete with him. Tommy was sure that now he would be ready to race against a hare.

Now, the hares have always looked down on the tortoises for having inferior speed, and when a tortoise actually beat a hare in a race, it was a humiliating blow to their pride. They learned from the mistakes of the arrogant hare, and the young bunnies were taught to never underestimate their opponents and to respect any animal that was brave enough to compete with their renowned speed. One such young hare was Toby, Toby's dream was to become the best, at what exactly he did not know, but he vowed to never make the same mistake as his great-great-great grandfather, he would beat every opponent, even if it was his own ego.

And so it happened that these two youngsters ran into each other one day, quite literally, on their morning run. Toby, having a bit of a temper, yelld at Tommy for crashing into him, and Tommy accused Toby of being the one who wasn't looking where they were going. Neither was sure exactly who apologized first, but one thing led to another and soon they were having a friendly conversation. It became their routine to meet each other halfway through their morning jog and they quickly became friends. They shared their dreams with each other and Tommy decided to challenge Toby to a race. Toby refused because he thought he would win for sure and didn't want to hurt Tommy's feelings, but Tommy insisted that only Toby could be his most worthy friend and opponent. Eventually, Toby agreed to the race.

On the big day, all the animals of the forest came to watch, they all wanted to witness the legendary spectacle of a race between a tortoise and a hare. Tommy the tortoise had been training for this day since he could walk, he made hard earned progress on his speed through determination, hard work and sheer will power. Toby the hare, on the other hand, had only begun to train for racing after his dream of becoming a great artist was rejected by the various forest art schools, a rabbit coach discovered Toby's talent for racing and helped him get into a great school on a sports scholarship.

As the referee blew the starting whistle, the tortoise and the hare took off into the woods, the contestants were neck and neck when they started, Tommy sprinting with all he had and Toby going for a light jog to preserve his strength. After the first half, Tommy was exhausted, he started slowing down despite himself, his legs screamed for rest and his lungs gasped for air as if he were drowning, he had started to fall behind. Toby meanwhile, was preparing to speed up for the final stretch, he felt bad for his friend, who was trying so hard, but he felt that it would be disrespectful to all of Tommy's determination if he went easy on his friend.

In the end, Toby won the race by a landslide, Tommy came in ten minutes later and collapsed ono the finish line. Later, Toby went to visit his friend in the hospital, Tommy cried.

It was only luck that made it possible for Tommy's grandfather to beat the hare, up against a serious opponent, no matter how hard he trained, Tommy would never stand a chance.


End file.
